Calls for Highway Code to be taught in schools

An insurance firm is calling on schools to teach the Highway Code after a survey showed more than 80 per cent of drivers don’t recognise basic road signs.

In a quiz posted on the ingenie website, 82 per cent of those who participated failed to correctly identify national road rules and signs, with more than a third of people getting less than 50 per cent right.

As a result of the findings, ingenie is calling for parents and schools to introduce under-17s to the Highway Code, along with hazard perception and driving theory, to give them a head start with their grasp of road knowledge.

Richard King, ingenie CEO, said: “It’s worrying that even experienced drivers aren’t showing basic Highway Code knowledge, which every driver should have to keep themselves and other road users safe. If schools introduce the Highway Code and hazard perception to pupils before they even reach driving age, we can build an entire generation of better, safer drivers.”

Ingenie filmed two drivers taking the quiz in an online social experiment, 20 years after passing their driving theory tests.

Tracey, aged 45, and Lester, aged 51, failed the road quiz, with neither able to answer questions regarding the National Speed Limit or the tread depth of a tyre.

Do you think you could pass? Try ingenie’s road signs quiz at www.ingenie.com/road-signs-quiz.

The experiment marks the second of the five gears in ingenie’s Parent Manifesto; a robust series of activities that aims to educate parents on how to get more involved when their child is learning to drive, in order to complement the learning process and promote safer driving amongst young people.

The manifesto will be made up of five stages released over the next few months – with each stage aiming to educate parents on another way they can help their child drive safely and save money.

For more information about how to help a young driver get on the road safely, visit www.ingenie.com/parent-manifesto.

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